New iPhone app aims to relieve the stress of packing for holidays

17 June 2011

International boutique hotels group, Grace Hotels has launched an iPhone app specifically designed to take the stress out of packing for holidays. The company sees packing as a notorious source of anxiety that can potentially spoil the excitement of getting away. “When we talk to holidaymakers” says Philippe Requin, CEO of Grace Hotels “we find that all too often the burden of responsibility for packing ends up with one member of the family – typically wives and mothers. But we feel that thinking for the whole family is too much to ask of one person. So we have developed Saving Grace – an iPhone app that does the thinking and remembering for you”.

Saving Grace by Grace Hotels is a packing check list and task reminder tool all in one. The app has pre-set lists for different trip types - winter, summer, activity holiday or a short break. Activities include specific lists for surfing, cycling, golf, diving, fishing, camping etc.

Users can personalise lists by deleting pre-set items or adding their own items. Once a packing list has been built and saved it can be renamed and used over and over again. Saving Grace makes packing easier by showing not only how many items have already packed, but also how many are left to pack.

The app also features a readymade list of important things to do before you travel - from travel insurance to currency to watering the plants and emptying the fridge.

Psychotherapist and broadcaster, Lucy Beresford added: “There is often the hope or expectation that holidays must be perfect, so our packing must be perfect too. Going on holiday often means leaving our comfort zone, so we long to be prepared for all eventualities while away. Packing also resembles a nesting process, which is how we make ourselves feel safe and secure; so we try to repeat that sense of safety and security in our packing. Holidays break our routine, which can cause anxieties, so packing becomes a displacement activity to offset these anxieties: packing ceases to be about taking the right clothes and more about who remains in control. But if you’re the one taking control, the pressure is on you alone not to forget anything.”

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